Landie Greyling

Tips

Be prepared for a lot of very steep climbs & descents - make sure you wear trail shoes with good grip, especially in wet and muddy terrain.

There will most likely be a lot of mud. On muddy sections alter your stride length to land closer to your hips and on your forefoot to engage more tread. By shortening your stride and increasing your cadence (steps per minute) you can maintain speed without sacrificing stability.

Strengthen your calf muscles. Strong calf muscles will not only help you sprint up a hill quick, they will also help you to propel yourself fast forward on a muddy trail. So if you want too be a mud master, get hard on yourself and do your calf training. Do 3 sets of 15 standing calf raises each morning and evening…. this will definitely help you beat the mud!

Strength work has made a significant difference to my running and key improvements can be made from just a few minutes a day. Lunges and squats are your friend. The strength you’ll gain will benefit your uphill running too, help with injury-prevention and technique, as well as helping with stability when terrain is slippery.

Pace yourself, Dodo is a very tough race, with many climbs and descents, which will really fatigue your body towards the second half of the race. Make sure you save some energy and legs for the last 10km (which also has a serious sting in the tail!)